A couple of cool modifications of Postwar Budd cars

Great post! Thanks! I really like the look of that LED headlight. I've never been happy with the interior lighting either, and will try putting a LED strip on the roof.

Nice work

Did you detail the interiors?  Or do the silhouettes just look better with more light? 

No, I didn't work on the interior. I left the incandescents in there (amp hogs that they are). But the warmwhite LEDs and the incandescents give a nice blend.

A couple of other things I didn't mention now that I've looked at the photos again. I added lead to the trailing car. I've been doing that lately.......makes a big difference in traction. That one has a 1/2 lb in it.   Also, the photo of the motor near the ingots has e-unit wires still connected to it. Those are disconnected now. The front e-unit was more reliable and I went with that one. So, basically, the front e-unit connects to the front motor and then the tether connects to the rear. 

-Roger

Excellent project and very nice result.

The fact that the interior is mostly taken up with motor and E unit, there's little room for details anyways.

  Otherwise, the fact that you've created a hauler is fantastic....lord knows the RDC's could use some extra pulling power. 

I played with a tether between one MPC powered/ unpowered set just so they would pass over my Atlas switches without stalling....less interior light flicker too.

Bruce

PW Budds are Uber Kool pieces, and great fun to run...especially with lights out!  I did the same thing years ago with my first Lionel Budd set.  The dummies were waaaay too much $, even when you could find 'em.  Eventually I got newer Budds from MPC and LTI. Here were the dummies you could afford.  Always stuck the power chassis in the RDC4 unit because there were fewer windows to block, and mess up the interior effects.  A series of light shields and reflectors makes the non powered coach type cars look really good inside.  Lionel used colored window shades on the PW  Budds, whereas the latter cars did not.  I use super thin colored tape to duplicate this effect on the window shades and BR  shade.  The MPC and LTI Budds can also be up-graded with the original steps and fuel tanks, for a better exterior look.   Huzzah !

I'm going to put them on my draw bar meter track later and see how they compare to my 2 motor Alco sets and F3 dual horizontals. Fun stuff.

Roger

Here's my 400 back in the 1980's. You can see how the mechanics keeps the window light from being even. I was sorry to see that a strip of LEDs on the roof didn't help much. Wish I had one of the RDC4 dummies now to make as the power unit. I had one back then and in a moment of weakness or temporary insanity I let it go.

These show that window shading mentioned earlier....a nice touch.   You could always find the inexpensive dummy MPC versions for modding if the desire is still there, Bob.  Basically they're identical to PW.

My second MPC set received TMCC from a GP7.  After some juggling of parts I found it easiest to swap all the workings from the GP7 onto the RDC chassis.  This also gave me constant/ directional headlight and with the appropriate kit, coil couplers. I bet you know what was used as the TMCC antenna?  Athough the GP7's fuel tank is deeper in profile, it just barely clears the rail tops.  Now that I own a Dremel I'll some day go back and remedy that issue.

Bruce